


Cockroach

by FlyRobinFly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Captivity, Future Fic, Happy Ending, Introspection, M/M, Survival, Torture, War, but we're right in the middle of it, civil war hint, lots of shit has happened, new beginings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-06 21:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20514149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyRobinFly/pseuds/FlyRobinFly
Summary: "How are you still alive?""Cockroaches are hard to kill."





	Cockroach

**Author's Note:**

> not editing this  
I'm tired and hungry and just want to acomplish something  
enjoy
> 
> Also, kinda inspired by the 100 - you know the whole Murphy is a cockroach thing, so yeah, props to them i guess

Failure.

Theo’s worst enemy.

Survive.

That’s what he did.

Even after helping the pack, no one trusted him. He’d hurt everyone. He decieved them. He was a monster. But it wasn’t his fault. The world made him that way. Even before the Dread Doctors had taken him, he had a predisposition for a hard life.

Abuse.

Something Theo had suffered from day one.

Survive.

That’s what he always did.

Theo used to not care but having your heart ripped out of your chest by your dead sister a few hundred times will break anyone.

It certainly broke Theo.

Oddly enough, breaking him didn’t break him. He’d already survived abuse, experimentation, death, and even hell. A little torture was nothing to a pest like Theo. A little torture was just another day surviving.

Surviving.

It’s what Theo does best.

It’s why he still wasn’t dead after two weeks in a hunter camp. More torture. Even more experimentation. But he didn’t talk. He only spoke to taunt his captors for the first few days when he had hope that he might escape, or that someone might come get him. Then it hit him that he’d be lucky if someone noticed he was missing.

So there he hung near death, bloodied and bruised, beaten to a pulp. Hanging on for dear life.

“I don’t think he’s going to talk,” said McCreary, the Monroe’s second. Theo hadn’t spoken a word for days. He made no sound. At this point, he was sure he couldn’t even give them accurate information. Liam and Scott had probably already come up with a new plan seeing as he was plan A and that plan was clearly a failure. “Should we put him out of his misery?”

The large desk chair ten feet away from them, a glow coming from the computer screen behind it, spun around and revealed Monroe herself, tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair. Over the past few years, she’d gained about fifteen more scars and an eyepatch. 

“No. He’ll talk. Just give it a little more time.” A sadistic smile grew on her lips and her scars stretched making her look as ugly as her heart was. “He’s a survivor. Survivors always talk. Isn’t that right, Mr. Raeken?”

The smoothness of her voice was unnerving. But Theo’s nerves were fried and, at this point, the torture didn’t even hurt anymore. He stopped feeling things about a week in.

“He’s not even a real werewolf,” she said, a bite in her tone that was meant to be a jab. It did nothing to Theo. “Chimera. That’s what they call you, right? A creation of science, not legend. Although… you are a man of legend.”

She chuckled when he looked her dead in the eyes, a reaction she wanted no doubt.

“I hear you’ve had a few close encounters with death and that you’ve even experienced it first hand,” she drawled, dipping her chin to her chest and grinning. “Tell me, how do you, some cheap knock off, manage to escape death so much?”

Theo scoffed and shook his head, the first reaction he’d given anyone in about eight hours. The taste of blood ran bitter in his mouth and he spat it out onto the floor. “Name brand is overrated,” is all he said, knowing exactly what it would get him. More burns. More whips. More stabs. Whatever it may be, he could handle it. Even death didn’t scare him at this point.

“I have a better theory,” she said crossing one leg over the other and grasping at her knee, a sick grin on her face. “You’re a mangy little creep, so useless and worthless that not only does no one know you’re missing but death doesn’t even want you.”

That one stung a little bit. Sure, he had his way of being a little creep, especially on her and he goons. But useless? Really? Worthless? He knew she was just trying to break him using a different tactic than torture but that fact is, it was probably the truth. The only person who might notice he was gone was Liam but after so long of being tortured, he doubted that.

And the part about death not wanting him… that made sense too. So many times, he just did stuff know he was gonna die, that he should die but he didn’t. He was…

“You’re a cockroach, Theo Raeken,” she said, shaking her head and smiling before spinning around, and focusing on her computer again. “All you’re ever going to be good for is surviving. In fact, I’m sure you’ll be the only one left when everything else has been burned alive from the nuclear apocalypse. Just you and the dead.”

“Ma’am?”

“What?!” she snapped, whipping her head to the doorway, annoyed that she’d been interrupted.

“I’m here to releave Mcreary,” said the hunter. Theo tried to look at him but his vision blurred. Maybe death would finally take him with time. What a relief that would be. Theo’s head sagged and he heard shuffling until there was a body standing in front of him. “Theo.”

He looked up and saw a face… a familiar one. But… he couldn’t place it. He swore he’d never met this person. Why was he familiar?

“I’m a friend,” is all he said as he quietly unlocked Theo’s restraints. “Wait for my signal.” Theo’s gaze followed him as he stood off to the side and looked out the door while Monroe made a call with one of her stations. Dark brown hair. Tan skin. Tall, muscular build. He was friends with Scott. He had to be.

Theo hung there for minutes, his hands grew weak holding himself up. He wouldn’t last forever. This guy had to give him the signal sooner or later. But Monroe made all the way through her call. As soon as it was over, the guy pointed his gun at her and fired. Theo braced for a loud noise and commotion but she just grunted in annoyance before she pulled a dark out of her neck. “What the…” Theo took her falling silent and going unconscious as the signal and collapsed onto the floor.

“Who are you?” he asked, panting for breath.

“My name is Danny,” he said and rushed over to Theo’s side to help him up. “I’m here to get you out and take you back to your pack.”

“Wait…” Theo said looking up at him. “You went to Beacon Hills.”

“Yeah. I know all about the supernatural. I’m on your side. We’ve got a small window to get out of-”

“Hey!” another hunter shouted as he walked into the tent. “The prisoner’s escaping!”

And that was when guns started firing. What confused Theo at first was when he realized that the hunters on the camp weren’t just shooting at him and Danny. They were shooting at… no. Theo stopped in his tracks on his way towards the fence of the camp and looked at the entrance. “Who’s here? And why did they send you?”

“Monroe wouldn’t recognize me. And just about everyone,” Danny replied, yanking on his arm. “Now let’s go. Liam is waiting out back for you.”

Theo looked at Danny in shock. “Liam?”

“Yeah. Saving you was part of his plan,” Danny said before waving the rifle in his hands towards the entrance of the camp. “Not theirs.” Theo looked back and saw another group of people. And Chris Argent. Hunters vs hunters. “Now come on. Before they decide to kill us too.”

Theo dashed towards the back fence and jumped over, Danny not far behind him. He landed hard on the ground, dirt filling his wounds that weren’t healing from all the stress. “Watch out!” Theo heard someone say and he knew that voice. Liam. And the sight of the beta being held down by a hunter with a taser was all the motivation he needed to shove Danny down to the ground behind a tree and look McCreary in the eyes.

Theo shifted halfway and snarled at him, eyes glowing a fierce yellow color. The hunter laughed. “Monroe’s right, you know. Let’s see if you survive this,” he said before laying heavy fire on the chimera.

“Nooooooo!” Liam’s voice yelled as Theo ran right towards McCreary and shoved him to the ground.

Theo ripped the gun away from him and pointed it at his face before he aimed down and shot his leg. “What was that, McCreary?”

The hunter cried out in pain and glared at Theo in… near terror. “How are you still alive?”

Theo looked down at his chest, five bullet wounds, two weeks worth of dried blood. He smirked. “Cockroaches are hard to kill.”

“Theo, are you ok?”

Suddenly, Theo was filled with just this… untamable rage. This guy had tortured him for two weeks. And his finger was shaking on the trigger. He wanted to kill him. So bad.

“Theo.”

He tossed the gun to the side and resorted to stomping on the guys bloodied up leg instead, breaking the bone in multiple places. The crunch was satisfying. So much so that it made Theo lightheaded. Actually, it was probably everything else that had happened recently that was making him lightheaded.

Suddenly, his head started pounding and the world was spinning. “Hey,” Liam’s voice said and pair of strong arms were around him in a split second. “Theo, stay awake.” Theo tried but he just couldn’t anymore. Now he knew that Monroe was being taken down. He could finally give in. “Don’t die on me, Theo. I came here to save you.”

Theo smirked as he was dozing off. “Cockroaches don’t die, little wolf.” Those were that last words he said to Liam before everything went cold and black.

And his words appeared to ring true when he came to several times after that only to succumb to his wounds again. First, the was the sound of Liam and Danny speaking incoherently while he was carried off hastily, the sound of guns firing in the background. Then, the were lights shining in his eyes and another voice present, and several more. Car doors slammed shut. “Gogogogogogo!” And then a big flash of light, an explosion. Then he woke up to more poking and prodding, making him feel sick to his stomach. “No more, please,” he begged them. “No more.”

Finally, he woke up to the faint sound of beeping and an oxygen pump. Death really didn’t want him. Minutes later, Mrs. McCall was taking care of him along with another doctor and he just sat there, blankly watching as they monitored him. They told him he should be dead but he already knew that much. They said he was lucky. He wished he were.

After getting some sustenance inside of his system, he fell back asleep. Not that he wanted to. He was just so tired and hyped up on a ton of pain killers. He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. “Wake up for me, Theo,” a voice called him back to the real world. “I wanna talk to you.”

Theo scoffed and shook his head. “No you don’t,” he said, voice so weak and pathetic. He let out a sad, self-loathing laugh. “The devil himself doesn’t even want me.” Theo liked to think he was strong but Monroe’s words got to him. Nothing in his life had ever made more sense than what she said.

He was so unimportant that death didn’t even want him. Theo didn’t survive because he was strong and ruthless. He survived because even satan, the king of all evil, didn’t want to claim something so worthless.

“That’s because he’s afraid of you,” Liam said. The words just flowed out of his mouth like honey. He said it as if it was the only response anyone could ever have to Theo’s words. “The devil’s a coward. But you?” Theo felt a pair of warm fingers lace with his and a pair of soft lips pressed to the back of his hand. “You’re a survivor.”

Theo scoffed and finally opened his eyes to find Liam, sitting in a chair, leaning over his bed looking like he hadn’t slept for a few years. Theo had thought he would say something witty, something sarcastic, very Theo-esque but instead, something more pathetic came out. “Did you just kiss me?”

Liam’s face lit up at the comment, that gorgeous smile lighting up the entire room. He chuckled and said, “No. I kissed your hand.” Liam did it again and this time Theo’s mouth opened a little and his brows furrowed in confusion. “Would you like me to kiss you?”

Theo, for some reason, had no problem with Liam being like this with him. In fact, he had a feeling that Liam could solve all of his problems. He wanted to say ‘yes’. Of course, he wanted Liam to kiss him. But… again, his mouth just wasn’t really doing what he thought he wanted it to so… “I don’t know. I hear cockroaches carry some deadly diseases.”

Liam rolled his eyes as he stood and leaned over the bed to place a soft kiss to Theo’s lips. “You’re never going to let the whole ‘cockroach’ thing go now, are you?” Liam asked sitting back down.

“This whole war with Monroe has taught me a lot of things but nothing has been more universally accurate than her calling me a cockroach,” he said, shifting to lay on his side to face Liam, wincing in pain. “Whatever happened with Monroe anyways?”

“Well, we’ve been fighting this war with her for god knows how long and… it’s finally over,” Liam said, appearing to still not believe it himself. “For real this time,” he added, looking at Theo with a small grin. “And the President signed the Enhanced Protection Contract. So we don’t all have to be deported anymore. For the first time in a long time we can finally breathe.”

“No more running?”

“No more running,” Liam said, hand gripping Theo’s a little tighter and resting his head on the mattress. “We can have lives again.”

Theo sighed. He couldn’t believe he’d thought for even a second that Liam wouldn’t notice he was gone. Theo and Liam had been dancing around each other since the beginning of the war with Monroe. It never seemed like a good time to address the tension between them. But they both knew it was there. They were just waiting for their time.

“Does this mean we can have a life together finally?” Theo asked quietly, hopefully. Liam just nodded, squeezing Theo’s hand as he started to drift off there in the hospital bed.

Surviving.

It’s what Theo did best. After all, he was a cockroach.

Living.

Because Theo didn’t survive so long just so he could die. He survived so he could live.


End file.
